A new bishop appointed in the DRC

Pope Francis on Tuesday 11 March appointed Fr. Placide Lubamba Ndjibu as bishop of the Diocese of Kasongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Until his appointment, he has been serving as Provincial Superior of the Missionaries of Africa (M. Afr.) for Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda.Fr. Placide was born on the 26 October 1959 in the Diocese of Lubumbashi. He was ordained a priest on 27 July 1991. He studied journalism and social communications at the University of Freiburg in Germany.The Diocese of Kasongo was erected in 1959 and it is under the Archdiocese of Bukavu. There are 570, 000 Catholics out of a population of 1, 700.000. The diocese of has 15 parishes and 48 priests. Kasongo has been vacant since the transfer in 2009 of its former bishop Théophile Kaboy to Goma.